CATIA for Engineers enables Digital Prototyping including Analysis and Simulation for design and validation of function quality and performance at all stages ofthe design.

Mechanical engineering is complex as assemblies are designed to perform a specific task with a specific target performance. Digital prototyping, combined with digital analysis and simulation, allows product development teams to virtually create and analyze a mechanical product in its environment. Mechanical engineers must be equipped with these tools so that they can gain insight into key factors in quality and performance early in the product development phase.

CATIA 3D Design

Manage assemblies from mechanical part positioning to assembly constraints definition to drawings generation

Finding ways to reduce design-to-manufacturing cycles is a key priority for industrial companies. Collaborative and agile solutions for an accurate virtual definition and a flexible update of mechanical products are the answer.

CATIA 3D Design expands 3D design to user communities outside of the design office thanks to the V6 collaborative platform, addressing each profile with the right tools. This covers a wide range of operations such as part design, parts positioning, automated mechanisms design, assembly drawing generation, etc.

The V6 collaborative platform enables multiple users to work concurrently on the same assembly and to share and trade modifications at the object level, offering a truly concurrent design. Moreover, the effective management of inter-part relations yields unbreakable relational design and automates the design process.

From sketching an idea in 3D at a click of a mouse to process-oriented tasks, you can benefit from all the CATIA modeler capabilities such as direct 3D sketching, geometrical surfaces handling, feature-based design, and history-free functional modeling. CATIA 3D Design is considered to be the foundation for many other CATIA V6 products.

Improve concurrent design with assembly integration in the PLM platform

Design naturally with direct an editing modeler that integrates constraints

Collaborate instantly with an immersive environment that fosters daily interactions in 3D

Strengthen reactivity with integrated 3D brainstorming

Reduce design cycle time with automated design collaboration

Validate compliancy with the weight criteria at the product level, from the preliminary design stage all the way to manufacturing

Simplify exchanges across the supply chain

Share material definition with all CATIA applications across the product lifecycle

Generate sheetmetal parts and bends with ease and speed

Benefit from a complete range of integrated and collaborative PLM assembly tools

You can establish mechanical assembly constraints with simple mouse movements or graphical commands to easily snap parts into position. You can also manage large, hierarchical assemblies of CATIA V4, V5, VRML or STEP parts using a top-down or bottom-up approach with greater productivity. In addition, parts and sub-assemblies are easily reused in the assembly without data duplication.

Boost design productivity and increase quality of the final product thanks to design templates and rule-based corporate standards.

Capture design intent with functional modeling as well as improve productivity for cast, forged, machined or molded parts and assemblies

Design flexibility makes it easier to capture design intent. Behavior-driven design offers intelligent features that encapsulate industry-specific behaviors. Users get the flexibility to focus on their design intent and not on the order in which they create design elements. Moreover, Functional Modeling performance improved up to 60% versus V5R19, depending on the part complexity.

A design to manufacturing environment yields a process-centric solution based on powerful wireframes, surfaces & solid creation tools. With automated dress-up features, a part can be drafted in one single operation and its sharp edges can be filleted in one shot, making it ready to be then manufactured. Extensive catalogs and user-defined features enable the design to be suitable for any manufacturing intent.

Produce generative, productive and flexible drawings which can be visualized in ENOVIA 3D Live

Weight of standard parts can be declared by the user directly in the navigation window, while other weights can be computed according to material or applicative specifications, such as covering on wires or routing for electrical elements. A weight distribution tool displays the various parts from the lightest to the heaviest, providing an immediate analysis. The cumulative weight of the assembly can then efficiently be reduced.

Design naturally with a direct editing modeler

CATIA Live Shape delivers an ultra fast modeling technology, enabling all users to sketch out any idea in 3D from scratch.

Collaborate instantly in an immersive environment that fosters daily interactions in 3D

Because designers have immersive access to their working group and part owners, they can communicate spontaneously at any time. Interactions include chat, video-conferencing, 3D snapshot exchange, and email or html format to keep track of exchanges. Efficient collaboration brings designers set in diversified geography together.

Strengthen reactivity with integrated 3D brainstorming

3D video conferencing allows all project participants to physically view the project and better understand the case at hand. You can encourage convincing reviews with 2D snapshots, annotated in real-time, and 3D snapshot exhanges, with synchronized viewpoints.

Reduce design cycle time with automated design collaboration

Several designers can design parts together while sharing and trading features in a controlled process. This increases productivity and reduces design cycle time.

Simplify exchanges across the supply chain

In addition to the V6 PLM platform which provides each company with a single database to store its Intellectual Property (IP), the industry standards adoption (STEP, IGES) make exchanges between the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers more efficient.

Share material definition with all CATIA applications across the product lifecycle

Materials are managed as consistent entities in the data base. They benefit from the client-host architecture so that only references on selected materials are loaded. This way, users can optimize memory usage by loading only the necessary material information. Furthermore, it is easier and faster to impact large models, thanks to its centralized management.

Intuitively create sheetmetal parts from scratch or from an imported solid

Bend Part Design is a direct modeler which allows user to quickly design or modify a sheetmetal part or any folded parts by pushing and pulling faces without storing history features. However, edition of contextual behaviors like bend, corner and chamfer keep their consistency in spite of any geometry change impacting them. User can also simplify his designs in order to run downstream applications.